TAG1138
99 reviews liked by TAG1138
I'm one of those freaks that never stopped playing (and replaying) the original Tomb Raider games, so I have a very strong familiarity with this series and these three games in particular. So a lot of the typical barriers to entry that these games present to newer fans, and maybe even older fans (the controls, the camera, the grid system etc.) weren't really an issue. I do still recognise that these remasters are probably a hard sell in 2024 and I've read plenty of reviews that support that. Personally though, these remasters delivered exactly what I expected and was hoping for.
Not to speculate but it feels like the devs were given no time at all to get these remasters made. My guess is that they were maybe given a year? We have the updated graphics sure but everything else (aside from the new control scheme) remains untouched. The in-game cutscene use the exact same head- bobby animations from the original when it would have been beneficial to clean those up a bit. The voice acting is the same, the music is the same, there's no extras to speak of... TRIII also chugs quite a bit which supports my theory that these might have been rushed. The FMVs drop frames like crazy, even when they're compressed which is wild to me.
Like, as a piece of video game history/ preservation I think these games are the gold standard for how older games should be made available for modern audiences. But I can't help but wish there was been a way to tighten up the newer versions while leaving the original games as they were, jank and all.
It's insane that they chose to remaster the graphics the way they did, basically just pasting new textures over what was already there. I love this decision even though it doesn't always work from a readability stand point. I'd prefer that the game take a big swing with the art direction and make a mad choice like this then have the games lose their charm striving to match modern graphical sensibilities. Lara's character model is also the best it's ever looked.
The photo mode has the potential to break the game altogether!? The camera isn't tethered to Lara so you can just straight up map out the whole level if you feel like it and get a sense of what lies ahead. Again, a crazy decision that I 100% support. These games are hard!! It's good to give players a useful tool like that. I don't know if that was the intended goal for the camera but regardless, I hope they never patch it.
I really enjoyed revisiting TR I, II and III in this way. I hope that some new fans can get some enjoyment out of them too. I hope we'll get The Last Revelations and Chronicles eventually but maybe that's asking for too much.
Not to speculate but it feels like the devs were given no time at all to get these remasters made. My guess is that they were maybe given a year? We have the updated graphics sure but everything else (aside from the new control scheme) remains untouched. The in-game cutscene use the exact same head- bobby animations from the original when it would have been beneficial to clean those up a bit. The voice acting is the same, the music is the same, there's no extras to speak of... TRIII also chugs quite a bit which supports my theory that these might have been rushed. The FMVs drop frames like crazy, even when they're compressed which is wild to me.
Like, as a piece of video game history/ preservation I think these games are the gold standard for how older games should be made available for modern audiences. But I can't help but wish there was been a way to tighten up the newer versions while leaving the original games as they were, jank and all.
It's insane that they chose to remaster the graphics the way they did, basically just pasting new textures over what was already there. I love this decision even though it doesn't always work from a readability stand point. I'd prefer that the game take a big swing with the art direction and make a mad choice like this then have the games lose their charm striving to match modern graphical sensibilities. Lara's character model is also the best it's ever looked.
The photo mode has the potential to break the game altogether!? The camera isn't tethered to Lara so you can just straight up map out the whole level if you feel like it and get a sense of what lies ahead. Again, a crazy decision that I 100% support. These games are hard!! It's good to give players a useful tool like that. I don't know if that was the intended goal for the camera but regardless, I hope they never patch it.
I really enjoyed revisiting TR I, II and III in this way. I hope that some new fans can get some enjoyment out of them too. I hope we'll get The Last Revelations and Chronicles eventually but maybe that's asking for too much.
Now that the embargo is over, I can finally review this remaster!
Although I am far from finished due to work, I did play the original ones, including Unfinished Business, so I am here to comment on what the remake has brought us.
Other than enhanced HD textures and remade models (Lara looks amazing!), the CGI cinematics are upscalled, and the sound has been enhanced as well (both music, SFX and dialogues). The items are now 3D instead of 2D textures, we have achievements (some are funny, some are easter eggs that people who played the originals will understand - like getting that Large Medkit through the corner glitch).
The tank controls remain as an option, thankfully, because the modern controls are buggy (Lara doesn't backflip, for example). The classic visuals are also an option, if you press F3 you can switch between them and the modern visuals. The essence of the classic Tomb Raider games is fully here, it's like reliving memories but with higher quality!
I experienced a few texture bugs (especially places with the ceiling missing), and had friends that experienced progression bugs too, which I hope they get fixed now during launch.
Overall, it's an amazing remastered trilogy that comes with the add-on levels! My favorite of these three will always be Tomb Raider II, of course!
Special thanks to Crystal Dynamics for the early access and free key! Thank you for this oportunity to try out the game so we could report the bugs to be fixed!
Although I am far from finished due to work, I did play the original ones, including Unfinished Business, so I am here to comment on what the remake has brought us.
Other than enhanced HD textures and remade models (Lara looks amazing!), the CGI cinematics are upscalled, and the sound has been enhanced as well (both music, SFX and dialogues). The items are now 3D instead of 2D textures, we have achievements (some are funny, some are easter eggs that people who played the originals will understand - like getting that Large Medkit through the corner glitch).
The tank controls remain as an option, thankfully, because the modern controls are buggy (Lara doesn't backflip, for example). The classic visuals are also an option, if you press F3 you can switch between them and the modern visuals. The essence of the classic Tomb Raider games is fully here, it's like reliving memories but with higher quality!
I experienced a few texture bugs (especially places with the ceiling missing), and had friends that experienced progression bugs too, which I hope they get fixed now during launch.
Overall, it's an amazing remastered trilogy that comes with the add-on levels! My favorite of these three will always be Tomb Raider II, of course!
Special thanks to Crystal Dynamics for the early access and free key! Thank you for this oportunity to try out the game so we could report the bugs to be fixed!
Overwatch
2016
Top 500 seasons 14 - 36 and this game was good but was neglected for too long
can be fun with friends :)
can be fun with friends :)
Streets of Rage 3
1994
I was expecting something different about SoR3 compared to the previous games (the more sequels there are, the worse they usually are). I don't think that I was wrong about this one.
The game is harder than the other ones. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing but it's not like the previous games were that easy either. Even Easy Mode is difficult in this one.
Just like in the previous games, you spend half of the time getting beaten by your teammate
The game is harder than the other ones. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing but it's not like the previous games were that easy either. Even Easy Mode is difficult in this one.
Just like in the previous games, you spend half of the time getting beaten by your teammate
Rogue Warrior
2009
I remember playing this sight unseen when it came out and nobody had a clue what it was 15 years ago when I was selling video games for a living. I played it on the 360 then and it was one of the funniest, laziest gaming experiences I've ever had, punctuated by a true prize at the end of the game: a rap comprised of all the weird swearing Mickey Rourke does in the game. Now, it's still terrible, but playing the PC version it's somehow even worse. Incredible. If I ever meet Mickey Rourke I'm only going to ask him to call me a goddamn cockbreath commie motherfucker.
Rogue Warrior
2009
This review contains spoilers
Broken mess of a game, boring and short.
Rogue Warrior is infamous for being one of the worst games out there so it should not come as a surprise that I am not that positive about it, and that is an understatement.
You play as Richard Marcinko, a Navy Seal veteran that needs to stop the launch of a ballistic missile in North Korea. You are dropped deep into enemy territory with your team, kill some generic North Korean soldiers and then, your buddies immediately get blown up by a soldier holding an unpinned grenade in his final moments. The fact that your squad mates looked at the grenade, looked at each other in pure Loony Toons style for about an hour before being yeeted away is beyond me. It marked the start of a bad game, and it sure as hell was.
You play trough a couple of very generic levels that all look the same. You murder Korean soldiers and need to find your way to your next objective. That is all there is to it. No side missions, no progression system, nothing.
You can use different approaches (or so the game makes you think) like stealth, guns blazing or a little bit of both. The only problem is that the mechanics are really broken and with stealth, you can kill anything if you are crouching. Even in broad daylight or moonlight, you can walk in front of their faces, and they do not see you. Put a knife in their throats and move on. It is ridiculous.
The combat is poor, and the AI is incredibly stupid. They are generic bullet sponges and for a Navy Seal stealth expert, it felt much more like playing Rambo with a beard and mustache. The gun play feels cheap and dirty, and your weapons sound like pea shooters. You can hold two weapons and although that is not that bad, you get offered many different weapons throughout the game and you never know which ones are best suited for which situation. Not that it matters, they all still feel just the same.
The graphics in Rogue Warrior are horrible, they are blend, grey and unpolished. They are seriously depressing to look at and offer nothing special. Animations are terrible and there is no detail whatsoever in gunfire, explosions and the generic, repeating kill moves that you perform.
The sound design is one of the worst I have ever experienced. Like I said, the guns sound like pea shooters, sound disappears in the middle of a kill animation and the voice acting is atrocious. It is a disaster. The worst part is the ending. When the credits roll, you are treated to a rap, composed by Uncle Richard, containing nothing but swearwords and goat balls. What. The. Hell.
Throughout the game, Richard swears constantly. I do not mind that in games and sometimes, I find it hilarious, but it is just constant, over and over again, many times without any reason. It gets repetitive and annoying after a while and there is nothing you can do to make him shut up. The worst part is when you are “sneaking”, and he just yells out of the blue “Come and get me mother*ckers”. No one reacts, and you are like, why, what?
And off course, the game is completely broken. Enemies clip trough the walls or spas out when killed, you fall trough the floor, constant crashing at random moments, FPS drops and overall, it is one big mess. I yet have to find a game that surpasses it.
Rogue Warrior is also very short and can be completed in three hours at max (if the game did not crash that much). It is also ridiculously easy because of the broken AI and the poor combat mechanics. A combination of camping and the broken stealth mechanics made this game too easy, even on the hardest difficulty.
In the end, Rogue Warrior has nothing to offer. It is broken, lifeless, generic, and overall, just horrible.
Rogue Warrior is infamous for being one of the worst games out there so it should not come as a surprise that I am not that positive about it, and that is an understatement.
You play as Richard Marcinko, a Navy Seal veteran that needs to stop the launch of a ballistic missile in North Korea. You are dropped deep into enemy territory with your team, kill some generic North Korean soldiers and then, your buddies immediately get blown up by a soldier holding an unpinned grenade in his final moments. The fact that your squad mates looked at the grenade, looked at each other in pure Loony Toons style for about an hour before being yeeted away is beyond me. It marked the start of a bad game, and it sure as hell was.
You play trough a couple of very generic levels that all look the same. You murder Korean soldiers and need to find your way to your next objective. That is all there is to it. No side missions, no progression system, nothing.
You can use different approaches (or so the game makes you think) like stealth, guns blazing or a little bit of both. The only problem is that the mechanics are really broken and with stealth, you can kill anything if you are crouching. Even in broad daylight or moonlight, you can walk in front of their faces, and they do not see you. Put a knife in their throats and move on. It is ridiculous.
The combat is poor, and the AI is incredibly stupid. They are generic bullet sponges and for a Navy Seal stealth expert, it felt much more like playing Rambo with a beard and mustache. The gun play feels cheap and dirty, and your weapons sound like pea shooters. You can hold two weapons and although that is not that bad, you get offered many different weapons throughout the game and you never know which ones are best suited for which situation. Not that it matters, they all still feel just the same.
The graphics in Rogue Warrior are horrible, they are blend, grey and unpolished. They are seriously depressing to look at and offer nothing special. Animations are terrible and there is no detail whatsoever in gunfire, explosions and the generic, repeating kill moves that you perform.
The sound design is one of the worst I have ever experienced. Like I said, the guns sound like pea shooters, sound disappears in the middle of a kill animation and the voice acting is atrocious. It is a disaster. The worst part is the ending. When the credits roll, you are treated to a rap, composed by Uncle Richard, containing nothing but swearwords and goat balls. What. The. Hell.
Throughout the game, Richard swears constantly. I do not mind that in games and sometimes, I find it hilarious, but it is just constant, over and over again, many times without any reason. It gets repetitive and annoying after a while and there is nothing you can do to make him shut up. The worst part is when you are “sneaking”, and he just yells out of the blue “Come and get me mother*ckers”. No one reacts, and you are like, why, what?
And off course, the game is completely broken. Enemies clip trough the walls or spas out when killed, you fall trough the floor, constant crashing at random moments, FPS drops and overall, it is one big mess. I yet have to find a game that surpasses it.
Rogue Warrior is also very short and can be completed in three hours at max (if the game did not crash that much). It is also ridiculously easy because of the broken AI and the poor combat mechanics. A combination of camping and the broken stealth mechanics made this game too easy, even on the hardest difficulty.
In the end, Rogue Warrior has nothing to offer. It is broken, lifeless, generic, and overall, just horrible.
Hotline Miami
2012
It's weird to consider that Hotline Miami might be one of THE most seminal games from the 2010s'. It helped inspire a swath of artists, from game developers to musicians, for the decade to follow.
Do you want to know why I said that it's only "one of" the most seminal games of the last decade? Because Dark Souls has three games in its main series, one game that came before it and a remake of that one game, and at least three games by the same developer that play just like it.
We are no longer in the era of sequels being a neat addition—cinematic universes, television, and live services are all more popular than they've ever been before. Whether or not you're ready to brace a media landscape where the idea of discussion being finite begins and ends with "but I can't wait for the sequel" is irrelevant; this is where we're at, and we're too far in to course correct now.
For the moxie of the developers to not want to squeeze their golden goose too hard, I admire their work. It's not just that they've made two all-time indie classics, the likes of which helped define the scene in the late 2000s'. It's that they made a really good game, let people talk about it until they inevitably moved on, and didn't try to keep its relevance on life support for ten years. Hotline Miami is relevant ten years later because the artists it helped inspire wound up creating games like it, with more to come in the future.
In terms of the game itself, it's about as fast, brutal, and fun as you've been told it is. Its commentary on violence in video games might not be the revelation it once was. But compared to a lot of the meta-commentary that was being made in games at the time, it's surprisingly subtle and doesn't overstep its boundaries. The soundtrack is, of course, magnificent, and I still listen to it daily. Hotline Miami is the kind of game that I stop, start, stop, and then eventually finish just that one more time. Part of what makes that meta-commentary hold up slightly more than it should is that Hotline Miami is a genuinely fun game to play and revisit. Hell yeah, I'll bruise some bad dudes with my free time! Why the hell not?
I've played around three versions of this game, and that's mostly to test the waters. For my money, the best port for this game is on the Nintendo Switch. But the Vita version gets very close! Hotline Miami on the Vita uses the back touchscreen in a way that makes me proud to say that I'm a Vita owner, if only because nothing else feels like it. But it's those joysticks, man. They're too small, and their deadzones are pretty tiny, and my god, you feel it while playing Hotline Miami. It's a little better than the second game on the Vita, though. Good lord, hand me a Switch, and I'll blaze through the first few levels of that game, but I can barely dodge roll to save my life on the Vita port.
Anyway, five stars, and I regret nothing.
Do you want to know why I said that it's only "one of" the most seminal games of the last decade? Because Dark Souls has three games in its main series, one game that came before it and a remake of that one game, and at least three games by the same developer that play just like it.
We are no longer in the era of sequels being a neat addition—cinematic universes, television, and live services are all more popular than they've ever been before. Whether or not you're ready to brace a media landscape where the idea of discussion being finite begins and ends with "but I can't wait for the sequel" is irrelevant; this is where we're at, and we're too far in to course correct now.
For the moxie of the developers to not want to squeeze their golden goose too hard, I admire their work. It's not just that they've made two all-time indie classics, the likes of which helped define the scene in the late 2000s'. It's that they made a really good game, let people talk about it until they inevitably moved on, and didn't try to keep its relevance on life support for ten years. Hotline Miami is relevant ten years later because the artists it helped inspire wound up creating games like it, with more to come in the future.
In terms of the game itself, it's about as fast, brutal, and fun as you've been told it is. Its commentary on violence in video games might not be the revelation it once was. But compared to a lot of the meta-commentary that was being made in games at the time, it's surprisingly subtle and doesn't overstep its boundaries. The soundtrack is, of course, magnificent, and I still listen to it daily. Hotline Miami is the kind of game that I stop, start, stop, and then eventually finish just that one more time. Part of what makes that meta-commentary hold up slightly more than it should is that Hotline Miami is a genuinely fun game to play and revisit. Hell yeah, I'll bruise some bad dudes with my free time! Why the hell not?
I've played around three versions of this game, and that's mostly to test the waters. For my money, the best port for this game is on the Nintendo Switch. But the Vita version gets very close! Hotline Miami on the Vita uses the back touchscreen in a way that makes me proud to say that I'm a Vita owner, if only because nothing else feels like it. But it's those joysticks, man. They're too small, and their deadzones are pretty tiny, and my god, you feel it while playing Hotline Miami. It's a little better than the second game on the Vita, though. Good lord, hand me a Switch, and I'll blaze through the first few levels of that game, but I can barely dodge roll to save my life on the Vita port.
Anyway, five stars, and I regret nothing.
Overwatch 2
2022
I really like the overall concept of overwatch. The heroes are unique, and you MUST use almost all of them depending on the situation.
What i don't like is that you depend on your team to actually win a match. I usually play alone, so that sucks. When i finally get to play with friends tho, the game gets 10x funier, but it's still usually not enough to win most of the matches, cuz on top of having to play with friends, all 5 of the team need to have a clear understanding of the game's funcionality and thats hard to do cuz it's complex.
anyway, people shit on this game cuz they are a bunch of NPCs, pick a friend and go play this one, you won't regret.
What i don't like is that you depend on your team to actually win a match. I usually play alone, so that sucks. When i finally get to play with friends tho, the game gets 10x funier, but it's still usually not enough to win most of the matches, cuz on top of having to play with friends, all 5 of the team need to have a clear understanding of the game's funcionality and thats hard to do cuz it's complex.
anyway, people shit on this game cuz they are a bunch of NPCs, pick a friend and go play this one, you won't regret.
GotG is one of the few things that I still like about Marvel.
This game is like another movie (in a good way, not in a Sony way) or series. The story, overall structure, characters, everything. Just as good as the movies.
The amount of dialogue is insane, they are always talking to each other about something. You'd think this could eventually bother you, but no, the conversations are interesting to hear every single time. The dub is also incredible, same VAs as the movies (I played with the pt-BR dub, bom pra caralho!)
The combat is enjoyable and frenetic, lots of combinations, combos, and varieties to play with. Reminded me of Scarlet Nexus.
The upgrades suck ass, each Guardian will have like 1 ability that is worth using, aside from the ultimate.
Quill's technical upgrades too are not that big of a deal.
The character animations are among the worst I have seen in my entire life... the melee combat is just painful to see in action and tbh, almost every animation in this game is disappointing in some way. Facial expressions too, are also too weak.
Because of this, when the game tries to be deep and meaningful, it is simply unable to do so, most of the time.
The game is pretty to look at, clearly an old-gen title, but still pretty. Not pretty enough to run how it runs on PC, tho.
The art direction is simply amazing, everything is so creative! Especially the planets... the game shines when you're not in a boring ass spaceship, but in a whole new world, waiting to be explored.
Yeah, the game is linear, you're not actually exploring shit aside from some little secrets, but still.
In the music department, only bangers, cuz you know, it's GotG.
Overall, good game, and if we had better animations, it could be even better as a whole. If you liked the movies, you're probably going to like the game.
Nikki's last visual is simply shameful, pathetic.
This game is like another movie (in a good way, not in a Sony way) or series. The story, overall structure, characters, everything. Just as good as the movies.
The amount of dialogue is insane, they are always talking to each other about something. You'd think this could eventually bother you, but no, the conversations are interesting to hear every single time. The dub is also incredible, same VAs as the movies (I played with the pt-BR dub, bom pra caralho!)
The combat is enjoyable and frenetic, lots of combinations, combos, and varieties to play with. Reminded me of Scarlet Nexus.
The upgrades suck ass, each Guardian will have like 1 ability that is worth using, aside from the ultimate.
Quill's technical upgrades too are not that big of a deal.
The character animations are among the worst I have seen in my entire life... the melee combat is just painful to see in action and tbh, almost every animation in this game is disappointing in some way. Facial expressions too, are also too weak.
Because of this, when the game tries to be deep and meaningful, it is simply unable to do so, most of the time.
The game is pretty to look at, clearly an old-gen title, but still pretty. Not pretty enough to run how it runs on PC, tho.
The art direction is simply amazing, everything is so creative! Especially the planets... the game shines when you're not in a boring ass spaceship, but in a whole new world, waiting to be explored.
Yeah, the game is linear, you're not actually exploring shit aside from some little secrets, but still.
In the music department, only bangers, cuz you know, it's GotG.
Overall, good game, and if we had better animations, it could be even better as a whole. If you liked the movies, you're probably going to like the game.
Nikki's last visual is simply shameful, pathetic.
This game encompasses everything enjoyable about the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The presentation, production values, banter between the crew, and world building are all top-notch. Honestly, the banter approaches legendary status and sets the bar for party-based games going forward. Drax and Mantis are particular standouts.
As for gameplay, I was sold when I found out you only control Peter and direct the other Guardians, rather than it being a co-op experience. Everyone has a unique move set and they are all useful. Outside of combat, there is platforming, minor exploration, and numerous action scenes reminiscent of the Uncharted series. Also, you will make choices that affect certain scenes. Early on, you sell a “monster” to a collector and what you choose drastically affects what happens.
The game isn’t perfect though. The story gets a little too weird for my taste and it drags on towards the end. I also encountered small glitches that forced me to reload checkpoints. Nevertheless, if you have an affinity for the movies, playing this game is a no-brainer.
As for gameplay, I was sold when I found out you only control Peter and direct the other Guardians, rather than it being a co-op experience. Everyone has a unique move set and they are all useful. Outside of combat, there is platforming, minor exploration, and numerous action scenes reminiscent of the Uncharted series. Also, you will make choices that affect certain scenes. Early on, you sell a “monster” to a collector and what you choose drastically affects what happens.
The game isn’t perfect though. The story gets a little too weird for my taste and it drags on towards the end. I also encountered small glitches that forced me to reload checkpoints. Nevertheless, if you have an affinity for the movies, playing this game is a no-brainer.